The Supreme Court issued show-cause notices on contempt of court charges to five leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Wednesday for ridiculing the court’s December 1, 2011 order in the memo case during a press conference held at the Press Information Department.
Issuing the notices to Senator Babar Awan, Religious Affairs Minister Khurshid Shah, PPP Information Secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira, Information Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Adviser to the Prime Minister Farooq Awan, the court asked them to file their replies by January 13 explaining why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against them for ridiculing the court orders. A two-member bench comprising Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed noted that sufficient material was available on record that warranted initiation of contempt of court proceedings against those who arranged and addressed the press conference against the judicial order.
The court insisted that Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul, who appeared on notice, tell the court whom he was representing and who had managed and addressed the press conference – the government or the PPP. The attorney general however stated that he had already submitted the reply of the prime minister over the matter, in which the premier stated that what was said in the press conference was the stance of the PPP. He read out the prime minister’s reply submitted to the court on December 26, stating that the government could not even think about ridiculing the court. The court had rejected, being unsatisfactory, the first reply of the prime minister over the press conference.
“Was challenging the independence, neutrality and impartiality of the court not contempt of court?” Justice Saeed asked the attorney general. On court orders, the attorney general also read out contents of the press conference in which derogatory remarks were made against the judiciary. Justice Saeed observed that the order of the court was criticised “contemptuously”. He said government functionaries ridiculed the judiciary in flagrant violation of the dignity of the court. Speaking at a press conference on December 1, Awan, Shah, Kaira, Firdous and Farooq Awan had criticised the Supreme Court, saying that by ordering a probe into the memo issue it had denied the right of a bipartisan and bicameral Parliamentary Committee on National Security to hold an enquiry into the scandal.